It's 3:45, Happy Birthday, Severus
by Heather68
Summary: Snape's 44th birthday is shaping up to be an interesting one.


**Title:** It's 3:45, Happy Birthday, Severus.  
**Author:** **faynia**  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairing:** Snarry  
**Word Count:** 1000  
**Summary:** Snape's 44th birthday is shaping up to be an interesting one.  
**A/N:** This was going to be smut, and then I changed my mind. Also, this was written and posted on livejournal on the 9th of January. Stupid me for not putting it on here too.

Severus Snape did not do birthdays. It wasn't that he hated them, or held a grudge against them from his childhood, it was that they constantly snuck up on him then passed by without him noticing. In his formative years, his mother would wake him up with a chocolate cake to celebrate, just him and her. She'd come in five minutes before the time he was born and they'd wait there in silence for 3:45 to come. He'd be hardly awake enough to sit up on his own and would sometimes fall asleep against his mother before his birthday could come.

His mother understood him. That was a good enough present for him.

As he got older and went to Hogwarts, his birthday soon became another day of strife and ridicule. For some reason Potter and Black's remarks always stung more and seemed even nastier than usual on his birthday. Their gift to him was their hatred. Birthdays weren't so happy anymore.

No one could ever get the date out of him, and still, there was always some sort of sweet on his bedside table when he woke. It wasn't until he came back to Hogwarts later in life that he discovered it was the late headmaster's doing.

It had been eight years since the headmaster's passing and he felt it acutely when he abruptly woke up at 3:40 on January 9th. He glanced around his bedroom suspiciously but nothing was moving. The fire in the grate had long burned itself out. He sunk back into his pillow and gazed up at the ceiling. He was 44, old, and forgotten. Scrubbing his face tiredly, he tried to fall back asleep. A loud thump from his main room brought any thoughts of sleeping to an unexpected end. A muted crash was swiftly followed rapidly by a muffled swear. He pulled his wand out from under his pillow and whispered: "Lumos". The light fell upon the startled frame of the newest professor at Hogwarts.

"Potter," Snape growled, fully ready to hex him, when he caught sight of what the whelp was holding. "What is that?"

"What?"

"I know you're dim, Potter, but surely you can tell me what is in your own hands."

The boy's face lit up and he realized it wasn't only because of the smile. The object in Potter's hands seemed to have caught fire.

"It's a cake." He took a step forward towards Snape on the bed. Snape didn't make any move to take the flaming dessert from the DADA professor.

"And why is it on fire?"

Potter had the audacity to laugh and he was horrified to realize that his lips were curling in what could be called a smile.

"Because, you great bat, it's your birthday and you're getting old."

"You put-"

"44 candles on the cake? Yup!" Potter winked and brandished the cake towards him. "Now blow out the sodding candles before the frosting melts off."

Snape glanced up at Potter's face curiously. He pushed at the brat's mental blockade and realized it was a fruitless endeavor. He wasn't going to let him know how he found out it was his birthday. Snape was certain no one on the current staff knew it was his birthday save Minerva and the only way he knew she knew was because she had his file.

"You could just ask you know. I might even tell you what you want to know."

Snape humphed and blew out the candles in spite. Potter was chuckling and set the cake on the bedside table and procured two plates out of nothing.

"Showing off, Potter?"

"Did you want me to transfigure one of your precious potion manuals into dishware?"

Snape bristled and took the plate Potter was offering him. He held it out from his body as if it were about to bite him. His attention was soon on other matters though, for example, the extremely lewd way Potter was going about taking all the candles off the cake.

"Stop that, Potter."

Harry hummed happily as he sucked the frosting off the bottom of the candle in his hand. He placed it next to the cake in the small, but growing, pile of already tongue cleaned candles. Smiling coyly, Potter plucked the candle off the side of the cake closest to Snape and preceded to give it a thorough work over with the slippery muscle in his mouth. He pulled it out with a wet popping noise that candles should not make.

Snape sat perfectly still when Potter perched himself on the edge of his bed. He watched through narrowed eyes as the raven-haired boy plucked off another candle and this time offered it to Snape. Startled, he took the offending item and reluctantly put it in his own mouth. He sighed with contentment as the vanilla frosting touched his tongue.

"How'd you get in here?" he finally asked, pulling the candle out of his mouth and setting it down beside him.

Harry grinned, crawling forward on the bed and wiped a bit of frosting off the corner of Snape's mouth with his tongue.

"It's a secret," he whispered, pulling back. 

Snape grabbed him around the back of the neck and pulled him forward till their noses touched. "I will find out."

"Perhaps," Harry agreed amiably, tilting his head slightly and leaning in. Snape brought up a hand and Harry ended up kissing the man's palm instead. He pulled back in confusion.

"Why are you here, Harry?"

"You have a large brain," Harry teased, pressing a kiss to the side of the man's chin. "Figure it out on your own."

"That's distracting," Snape muttered, but he didn't push Harry away.

Harry grinned and moved upwards, kissing the side of Snape's lips. "Good."

A high-pitched beeping noise filled the room and Potter pulled away sheepishly. He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a sports watch. He pressed a button quickly and the irritating sound stopped.

"Happy Birthday, Severus."

Harry Birthday, indeed.


End file.
